1. rightness (n) a: accordance with conscience or morality b: appropriate conduct; doing the right thing c: conformity to fact or truth 2. truth (n) a: the state of being the case b: the body of real things, events, and facts

Saturday, January 26, 2008

SIBEL, NUKES, AND COVERING ASS

"But I can tell you that Turkey is a classic example in our judgment of a nation that we would like to work in partnership with, not to bring old technology, but to bring advanced technology and the benefits of nuclear power."~ Clay Sell, US Deputy Secretary of Energy.

London's Sunday Times has a third article out on Sibel's story, in which they discuss the Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings connections to the information Sibel heard on the wiretaps she translated at the FBI:

AN investigation into the illicit sale of American nuclear secrets was compromised by a senior official in the State Department, a former FBI employee has claimed.

And who was that "senior official in the State Department"? All together now: Marc Grossman!

Her latest claims relate to a number of intercepted recordings believed to have been made between the summer and autumn of 2001. At that time, foreign agents were actively attempting to acquire the West’s nuclear secrets and technology.

Among the buyers were Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s intelligence agency, which was working with Abdul Qadeer Khan, the “father of the Islamic bomb”, who in turn was selling nuclear technology to rogue states such as Libya.

Plame, then 38, was the glamorous wife of a former US ambassador, Joe Wilson. Despite recently giving birth to twins, she travelled widely for her work, often claiming to be an oil consultant. In fact she was a career CIA agent who was part of a small team investigating the same procurement network that the State Department official is alleged to have aided.

Brewster Jennings was one of a number of covert enterprises set up to infiltrate the nuclear ring. It is is believed to have been based in Boston and consisted of little more than a name, a telephone number and a post office box address.

[ . . . ]

The FBI was also running an inquiry into the nuclear network. When Edmonds joined the agency after the 9/11 attacks she was given the job of reviewing the evidence.

The FBI was monitoring Turkish diplomatic and political figures based in Washington who were allegedly working with the Israelis and using “moles” in military and academic institutions to acquire nuclear secrets.

The creation of this nuclear ring had been assisted, Edmonds says, by the senior official in the State Department who she heard in one conversation arranging to pick up a $15,000 bribe.

And who was that "senior official in the State Department"? All together now: Marc Grossman!

One group of Turkish agents who had come to America on the pretext of researching alternative energy sources was introduced to Brewster Jennings through the Washington-based American Turkish Council (ATC), a lobby group that aids commercial ties between the countries. Edmonds says the Turks believed Brewster Jennings to be energy consultants and were planning to hire them.

But she said: “He [the State Department official] found out about the arrangement . . . and he contacted one of the foreign targets and said . . . you need to stay away from Brewster Jennings because they are a cover for the government.

“The target . . . immediately followed up by calling several people to warn them about Brewster Jennings.

“At least one of them was at the ATC. This person also called an ISI person to warn them.” If the ISI was made aware of the CIA front company, then this would almost certainly have damaged the investigation into the activities of Khan. Plame’s cover would also have been compromised, although Edmonds never heard her name mentioned on the intercepts. Shortly afterwards, Plame was moved to a different operation.

Now, get this, from Grossman:

The State Department official said on Friday: “It is impossible to find a strong enough way to deny these allegations which are both false and malicious.”

Dude, try harder.

Let's hear what Phil Giraldi had to say, who wrote the recent article on Sibel for American Conservative magazine. Giraldi was interviewed by Scott Horton on Friday:

Quite honestly, if I were Marc Grossman, who allegedly is now making $3 million a year working for the Cohen Group, I would be kind of concerned about my personal reputation where people are saying that I was taking money, and I would want to straighten out the record and I would want to the FBI to produce a definitive statement about me, and he hasn’t demanded that. He hasn’t gone after that, and none of the other people in this case have gone after that, so I’m wondering why, if these people are innocent, they aren’t making a more serious effort to demonstrate that they are.

Anyway, it's an excellent interview which you can listen to here--thanks to Luke for that. The discussion of Sibel's story starts around 24 minutes into the interview. Luke also has the link and a full transcript of that portion of the interview which concerns Sibel. I urge everyone to take a look at Luke's post in order to read his always insightful comments.

On Thursday, Luke posted information indicating that the Bush administration is pressing Congress for approval of sales of nuclear technology to Turkey. He highlights an interesting statement from the White House press release [emphasis from Luke]:

"My Administration has completed the NPAS review as well as an evaluation of actions taken by the Turkish government to address the proliferation activities of certain Turkish entities (once officials of the U.S. Government brought them to the Turkish government's attention)."

NPAS stands for nuclear proliferation assessment statement, but what's interesting about the statement is that in it, the Bush administration admits that there are already nuclear proliferation activities in Turkey, carried out by "certain Turkish entities". I'm willing to bet that these "entities" refer to the Turkish companies, very possibly including those that Sibel has mentioned in connection with nuclear technology black-marketing. Furthermore, according to the White House press release, the US government had to bring these "Turkish entities" to the attention of the Turkish government.

That is the biggest load of baloney ever! Does anyone--naive Westerners excepted, of course--honestly believe that, in a fascist regime like Turkey, either the civil government or the Paşas wouldn't know about nuclear "proliferation activities" taking place inside the country? Such an idea is not only absolutely preposterous, it's also impossible. Especially given that Turkey, along with Grossman, was involved with assisting Pakistan in it's own nuclear "proliferation activities."

Remember that the tapes Sibel listened to dated back to the late 1990s, and Turkey has been attempting to acquire nuclear technology for allegedly "peaceful" purposes, i.e. nuclear power. Greenpeace has some documentation on Turkey's efforts to acquire nuclear power dating back to 1998.

There are two things to remember when considering nuclear power plants in Turkey. The first is that Turkey is one of the most active and dangerous earthquake zones in the world. The second is the question of what the Ankara regime would do with nuclear waste. Given the facts that the Ankara regime has destroyed and then neglected the Kurdish region for the last 84 years and that the Ankara regime is dead set on continuing the destruction of the Kurdish region with the Ilisu Dam project, what is the likelihood that the regime would store its nuclear waste in North Kurdistan?

In addition, you have to worry when TDN comes up with an article titled, "Turkey to face serious brainpower deficit in nuclear power". In reporting on a meeting about nuclear energy in Istanbul on January 18, it's clear that Turkey is not ready to address even the most basic questions on the matter. But that may not make any difference. Those who worship the almighty dollar are going to want to turn an buck anyway. A year ago, the US State Department--the same people who brought you Lockheed Martin's Joseph Ralston as "PKK coordinator" and his co-worker at The Cohen Group, Marc Grossman--announced another scam: the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. Apparently, the State Department is as enthusiastic about selling nuclear energy to Turkey as it is about selling Lockheed Martin product:

QUESTION: Thank you. Onur Sazak with Turkish Business Daily Referans. There are rumors that Turkey is buying nuclear energy -- nuclear reactors from the United States. Can you confirm that? And my second question is certain lawmakers in Turkey are accusing of the -- the United States of selling raw (inaudible) technology, first-generation nuclear reactors to the country. And if I can get your comments on this. Thank you.

DEPUTY SECRETARY SELL: I cannot confirm the rumor. But I can tell you that Turkey is a classic example in our judgment of a nation that we would like to work in partnership with, not to bring old technology, but to bring advanced technology and the benefits of nuclear power. So I would anticipate this is something that leaders in Turkey would -- I would welcome and it's something that I hope we could work with them on.

That brings us back to the White House press release mentioned in Luke's post, and his commentary, specifically in reference to this phrase: "(once officials of the U.S. Government brought them to the Turkish government's attention)"[my emphasis]:

Given that the entire press release is basically written in 'legalese', this unnecessary parenthetical aside stands out like a sore thumb. I wonder who injected this statement into the announcement, and why. It sure looks like butt-covering to me, given the latest revelations in the Times.

The phrase 'once officials...' also appears to be a curious formulation. I'm not overly familiar with presidential statements and US government protocols, but I would imagine that "Agencies" or "Departments" would normally communicate with foreign governments on such important matters, and I would imagine that presidential statements would normally refer to such agencies, rather than 'officials.' Perhaps I'm wrong, and perhaps this is common practice, but it sure looks like an attempt to exonerate certain individuals such as Marc Grossman who was accused of some very serious crimes in the Times article.

I have to agree, it certainly does look like "an attempt to exonerate certain individuals such as Marc Grossman," who have been deep into the deep shit of the Deep State's nuclear black-marketing. What is more worrying, however, is Luke's closing:

Congress has 90 days to amend or block this legislation, otherwise it automatically becomes law.

This is exactly what happened with regard to the Pentagon deal to upgrade Turkey's F-16's. Since the White House is quietly pushing for congressional approval, while the State Department officially promotes the spread of nuclear technology to regimes as unstable as Turkey, we may all be screwed.

And since I've mentioned Ralston, Grossman, and The Cohen Group, check out Scott Horton's recent interview with Chalmers Johnson to learn more about how dependent the US economy is on the military-industrial complex and ridiculous schemes like the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.